Reborn since 1993

Chapter 379 Cut off the beard
Li Dongling looked at the "old workhorse" in front of him. Compared with the timid person when he was in Xicheng Wireless Factory No. 1, Zhou Wenyan is now more spirited and vigorous.

But it's normal when you think about it. When he was in the Xicheng Wireless Factory No. 1, all the dirty and tiring work was pushed to Zhou Wenyan, and he was also suppressed by Xu Yiqiao, the head of the technical department of the Wireless Factory No. 1. He never got any good things, but he had to take the blame for everything.

After arriving at Torch Group, there weren't so many messy things going on. Zhang Xiaocheng basically delegated the technical matters of Torch Group to him. Zhou Wenyan himself was the boss of the technical department of Torch Group, so naturally no one could make things difficult for him.

There is another point, although no one has mentioned it, but as a group of people who provided technical support to the Shangguan Town Component Factory, the predecessor of Torch Group, Zhou Wenyan, to a certain extent, shared weal and woe with Li Dongling, Zhang Ao and others.

At present, Dongling Hi-Tech is one of the major shareholders of Torch Group with a 40% stake. In addition to Zhou Wenyan's relationship with Li Dongling, to a certain extent, he is regarded as the representative of Dongling Hi-Tech in Torch Group, and no one dares to offend him.

As a result, Zhou Wenyan's life is quite good now. He has a good salary, a good position and a good status. He is certainly no longer the same as the hard-working man a few years ago.

When Zhou Wenyan saw Li Dongling, he excitedly took out a lighter from the laboratory bench, pressed it, and a flame immediately came out of the lighter.

"This is the constant flow valve lighter we developed!"

As Zhou Wenyan adjusted the regulator on the lighter, the size of the flame on the lighter began to change smoothly, from the largest flame to the smallest bean-sized flame. The whole process was quite smooth, without the scene of the flame fluctuating in size when the lighter is ignited now.

Li Dongling took this experimental lighter and felt that it was basically the same as the constant flow valve lighter he used in his previous life.

"Now the constant flow valve technology has basically been developed. At present, the lighter laboratory is seeking to make its gas flow more stable and the combustion more complete. In addition, key components such as lighter valves are upgraded to make it safer and lower cost. It is expected that by the end of the year at the latest, constant flow valve lighters will be able to start mass production!"

Zhou Wenyan excitedly said to Li Dongling that the launch of the constant flow valve lighter was not just a new lighter technology for Torch Group and Zhou Wenyan!
This is the world's first lighter with constant-flow valve technology, and it is also a domestically produced lighter that leads the industry's technological trend for the first time. As long as the technology matures, it is almost certain that constant-flow valve lighters will replace traditional lighters.

Because this is almost entirely a technological generation gap, whether it is the control of the lighter flame size, safety performance, combustion level, durability, etc., the constant flow valve lighter has a qualitative improvement!
"Thank you for your hard work, Old Zhou!"

Li Dongling looked at the flame on the lighter and patted Zhou Wenyan on the shoulder. Upon hearing this, the latter could not hide his excitement on his face.

Zhou Wenyan proved himself by developing the constant-flow valve lighter. He had wanted to prove himself in the West City Wireless Factory 1 before, but he had no chance at all. Instead, the people in the technical department there looked down on him for meddling in other people's business.

At Torch Group, he spent so much money and finally lived up to everyone's expectations and proved his ability.

Li Dongling put down the lighter. With the constant flow valve technology, Torch Group had one more trump card in its war with lighter manufacturers like BIC and Dupont. It would be difficult to settle the matter by relying solely on price war.

But when Torch Group's products are more affordable than the old European brands' lighters, have better technology than their lighters, and are safer, are you still afraid that you can't beat them? !
After leaving the experimental bench, Li Dongling came to Zhou Wenyan's office. After entering, he could see that it was filled with various documents and books.

Li Dongling flipped through several books and saw books covering more than a dozen subjects including materials, mechanics, fluid mechanics, etc. It can be imagined how many difficult problems Zhou Wenyan had to overcome in order to develop the constant flow valve technology.

"If it weren't for you, Old Zhou, the Torch Group's lighter project wouldn't be so smooth!" Li Dongling tapped the book in his hand and said to Zhou Wenyan with a smile.

Zhou Wenyan is now the technical manager of Torch Group, but his personality remains the same as it was a few years ago, and he has no intention of seeking credit.

"The constant flow valve is not something I can make by myself. I have spent tens of millions of dollars just to invite professors and R&D institutions in physics, mechanics, and fluid physics from Huaqing University and abroad. The entire project cost even more.

Without the funds you invested, we wouldn’t be able to hire those professors and R&D institutions, and the constant flow valve technology would never have been developed! "

Zhou Wenyan said with emotion that he had now led a large project, but because of this, he knew how much money it cost, how difficult it was to coordinate the many R&D personnel in the project, how much risk he had to take in order to determine the R&D direction.

This was also the reason why the company was unwilling to do any R&D and take risks during the period of Xicheng Wireless Factory 1, because they were afraid that they would spend so much money and end up with nothing. But at Torch Group, when Zhou Wenyan was developing the constant flow valve lighter, Li Dongling fully supported him and invested huge R&D funds. Even if there were mistakes in the R&D, he still did not stop!

After experiencing the research and development of large projects, Zhou Wenyan finally understood how difficult it is to meet a qualified big money sponsor.

"In the future, Torch Group will have new projects that need you to develop!"

Hearing Li Dongling's words, Zhou Wenyan couldn't help but raise his head and look at Li Dongling, "Another new project?"

Li Dongling nodded, "I have just talked to Zhang Xiaocheng. Torch Group is going to enter the high-end lighter market and launch a new metal windproof lighter!"

"Torch Group needs a new high-end lighter brand to gain more revenue and profits. In the future, the most profitable lighter market will definitely be the high-end lighter market. Torch Group needs to launch its own high-end lighter brand in China... Zorro!"

In the past, in the domestic lighter industry, the only one who could compete with brands like Zippo was Zorro.

Although there are many voices claiming that Zorro is imitating Zippo, that it is not classy enough, that its brand is not well-known, etc.

But in the previous life, Zorro was established for too short a time, only about ten years in total. The fact that it was mentioned and compared with Zippo has already proved the significance of Zorro's appearance.

At least, a considerable number of domestic lighter users can spend tens or hundreds of yuan to buy a "high-end" lighter, instead of being intimidated by lighters that cost hundreds or thousands of yuan. Zorro has satisfied the dreams of many men who want to own high-end lighters...

Moreover, the Zorro lighter production line is located in China, but the Zippo lighter production line is located in America. At most, there are parts suppliers in Canada, South Korea and other places. Zippo is in America, and the salary offered to local employees is more than US$15 per hour, which is equivalent to one hundred and twenty dollars an hour!
Zippo has always topped the sales list of high-end lighters in China, and its sales are soaring. However, no matter how many it sells, it basically has nothing to do with the domestic market. The profits from high-end lighters have basically been taken away by Zippo to America, which is also the reason why it can continuously increase the salaries of its employees.

Just like the competition between new energy vehicles and traditional vehicles in later generations, traditional vehicles are basically dominated by Japanese, American, and German brands, plus South Korea and France. The automobile industry is an industry that can provide more than millions of high-paying jobs with annual salaries exceeding 300,000 yuan.

Although Toyota, Honda, Volkswagen, General Motors and others have built assembly plants all over the world, the most core high-paying jobs such as automobile design, engines, and systems have always been located in their respective territories. Automobiles alone have brought more than 540 million high-paying jobs to Nippon Benz.

In the past, China has never been able to gain an advantage in the field of traditional fuel vehicles in the face of competition from Japan, Germany, America, South Korea and other countries. After new energy vehicles began to have opportunities, China began to seek to overtake on the curve.

Similarly, if the country can dominate the automobile industry, the entire industry will be able to bring millions or even tens of millions of high-paying jobs to the country, taking away the jobs of Japanese, German, Korean and American automobile manufacturers.

Li Dongling plans to have Torch Group launch the Zorro high-end lighter. If he can gain an advantage in advance, Zorro will also be able to bring a batch of new high-paying jobs to Torch Group!
Not to mention the jobs that pay 120 yuan an hour, it would be worth it if we could provide a group of jobs with a monthly salary of more than 5,000 yuan. This is much better than the 350 yuan salary that Torch Group currently provides to production line staff every month!
"The high-end lighter market has not yet fully taken off. I need the technical department to develop a high-end Zorro lighter that is a work of art or even a collectible."

"This……"

When Zhou Wenyan heard what Li Dongling said, a bitter look appeared on his face. He felt that Li Dongling's request was more difficult than his development of a constant flow valve lighter.

Seeing this, Li Dongling laughed, took out a design drawing and placed it in front of Zhou Wenyan. This was a lighter drawing that Li Dongling had prepared before. As a senior designer, Li Dongling has not forgotten his craft in these years.

The design drawing that appeared in front of Zhou Wenyan was a little bit similar to the Constantine lighter that Zippo had sold for 19 years in his previous life...

Of course, nowadays, Torch Group and Zorro were the first to launch this lighter, and this lighter is the pioneering work of Torch Group in entering the high-end lighter market.

Once Torch Group applies for patents for lighters like the Constantine model, it will become uncertain who will imitate or copy whom in the lighter industry!

(End of this chapter)